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A Treasury of Garden Books

If you're stuck for a Christmas present or two for a gardening friend or family member, you may find something suitable in this selection of gardening books I've enjoyed this year...

For food growers

Grow for Flavour has turned out to be my hit of the year as it's the book I've returned to many times. James Wong has extensively searched through thousands of scientific papers and distilled the knowledge gained into this attractive and very readable book.

One of the reasons we grow our own is for the freshness and superior flavour our crops brings us. James examines the factors which influence flavour and delivers dozens of handy tips which are easily achievable.

It's not all theory and science, James also looked at which varieties do the best in our climate by commandeering some space at RHS Wisley to conduct a flavour trial. So for each popular crop examined you have a number of suggestions to try for yourself.

We noticed at the tomato trial earlier this year there was a distinct difference in flavour between tomatoes grown in pots in the greenhouse and those grown directly in the ground. The ground grown had more flavour and the Brix meter showed they were much sweeter. Sure enough, when I looked up tomatoes in James' book when I got home, ground vs pot is one of the factors discussed.

Where last week's book served as a general introduction to the world of fermented foods, this one takes a more detailed look at just one aspect.

Here you will find lots of ideas for naturally fermenting your vegetables to produce kimchi, kraut and lots of pickles.

Being of American origin, this book has plenty of reassurance on how safe the fermentation process is and lots of troubleshooting guidance on what to do when things go wrong.

As a newcomer to fermented foods I'm glad to have both books to explore. This one is particularly good for dealing with future allotment gluts. The only downside to this book is the resources section only caters for the USA and Canada audience, so it's handy I have Charlotte Pike's book to plug that gap.

I confess I read Straw Bale Gardens Complete in the spring, got all enthused to give it a go, but sadly family circumstances meant I couldn't put US author Joel Karsten's thorough guidance into practise this year.

It's great to have a book which puts a different cultivation technique firmly into the hands of ordinary gardeners like me. I saw instantly how it would help to clear and suppress weeds on part of my plot, and it would be easier to look after. It has all kinds of other possibilities e.g. where there is space, but no ground for cultivation - at some of our older schools which only have tarmacked space perhaps?

One caveat springs to mind for UK gardeners: no matter how well designed a straw bale garden may be, there will be plenty of onlookers who won't see its beauty. However, I'm sure there are plenty of instances where that doesn't matter.

Once straw bale(s) are sourced, there is a crucial time period where the bale has to be kept thoroughly wetted to start the decomposition process which in turn helps to feed the crops as well as providing a good water supply. Once this intensive time is complete, the amount of watering needed is far less than for more conventional growing methods - a definite plus for drier summers or where access to a water supply is restricted.

Can't source a supply of straw bales? No problem, this book shows how you can make your own.

For plantaholics

I love this series of Plant Lovers Guides (see my previous review of Snowdrops and Salvias; I then acquired the equally delightful Sedums and Dahlias for my birthday). They deliver just the right amount of detail on how to grow, designing with the plant in question and planting companions, plus a great selection of species, varieties and cultivars to choose from.

The name Picton is probably familiar to you already as The Picton Garden in Worcestershire is renowned for its autumn asters aka Michaelmas daisies, which has national collection status.

Therefore the selection of garden owner Paul Picton and his daughter Helen to produce the Asters guide is a wise one.

Another great thing about these guides is the authors' individual voices are allowed to shine through. Here it's much more of a conversation between Paul and Helen.

An immediate surprise when I opened the book is that asters have been reclassified into several new genera, with the brain taxing Symphyotrichum and Eurybia (and a number of others) sitting alongside Aster, which I briefly touched on in October's Blooms Day. The reasons why are tackled here with aplomb, and I've since learned our American cousins have had several years ahead of us to get used to the new names as they refer to genera hailing from over there.

I also learned several of the asters looked at in more detail originally hail from the Devizes area, most notably the popular S. 'Little Carlow'. I'm contemplating starting a collection of Wiltshire cultivars - I already have the foxglove 'Glory of Roundway' for the spring/early summer, and some asters would add an autumnal highlight.

I came away from the garden enthused by Richie and by the many ferns on display, especially seeing how well they're used in the deeply wooded areas. So it's no surprise to me that Richie was chosen to co-author Ferns.

Kate asked me a while ago how applicable this book is to a UK-based audience. Having now worked through the book and produced a long wishlist of ferns for the front side garden, I can assure her that it's provided me with an invaluable guide.

Claire Austin is noted for her displays of Irises at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, but a visit to her nursery on the Welsh border quickly shows she has a great depth of knowledge of hardy perennials.

So it's great to see she's put that knowledge to good use and produced a guide to her personal selection of 800 'good doers' for our gardens in the appropriately titled Claire Austin's Book of Perennials.

This is a useful guide for any beginner or gardeners facing a completely blank canvas to fill, or for those like me who go mad from time to time and clear out a bed entirely and start all over again. There's good guidance on 'plants for the right place' in your garden and notes on good perennials for attracting insects, or for cutting.

Irises and peonies get an extra special nod as Claire specialises in these at her nursery.

I was delighted to catch up with Claire in the pub after the GMG Awards, where she had just picked up the award for Reference Book of the Year and was 'chuffed to bits' (her words not mine). Her success shows it's possible to self-publish an award winning book and her advice to those tempted to follow in her footsteps is to hire a good editor.

This time Hugo Rittson Thomas is joined by award winning photographer Marianne Majerus to bring us the mouth watering images this book delivers and I had a lot of fun trying to match the gardens to each photographer (I scored a pleasing 80%).

Here the definition of great is used in a wider sense to include gardens which have a firm place in our history, and may not necessarily be classified as such design-wise. All are worth their inclusion whatever the reason.

Many of the gardens aren't open to the public, so it's great to have the chance to 'sneak in the gate' of gardens such as 10 Downing Street and the American Ambassador's in Regent's Park to see what's what.

There are 30 gardens to view, divided into 'Pomp and Circumstance', 'Wild in the City', 'Gardeners' Worlds', 'High-Rise Retreats', and 'Private Paradises'. The variety is vast, from the Downings Road Floating Gardens to our latest public park, the Olympic Park. London is huge, so there's a supplement of a further 46 suggested gardens and events to explore.

The first thing to note about Tim Richardson's Oxford College Gardens - apart from its delicious cover - is its weight, at just under 2.5 kilos according to my kitchen scales.

Like Victoria, Tim has drawn on his insider knowledge of a place - as an Oxford graduate in his case - to bring a detailed guide to the best college gardens Oxford has to offer.

Not every college makes the grade, with some of them grouped into a summary guide, before the more 'meaty' gardens are considered in turn.

It is possible to visit many of the college gardens, but Tim's scholarship and Andrew Lawson's expert lens also draws us into those parts not usually on public display, such as the fellows gardens.

I was pleased to see the gardens I was familiar with whilst working in Oxford made the grade (Magdalen, New College and St Anne's) along with my personal favourites, the non-college gardens of the Botanic Garden and University Parks.

Tim's text is engaging and the photos delightful. Once you've worked up the strength to pick it up, this is a great book for anyone planning on a trip Oxford (you can look up college opening times here), or wishing they had a souvenir of the golden times they had whilst studying there.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Disclosure: These are review copies I've received from various publishers. Note I've only reviewed the books I'd recommend and the links are non-affiliate ones to a book company that pays its UK taxes (and delivers worldwide). The exception is Claire Austin's book where the link goes to her own website.

If you prefer to support independent bookshops, then online ordering via The Hive allows you to do so.

Comments

I think our Victoria is too modest, don't you? It's a great book. You have quite the roundup. Thank you so much for this excellent and varied roundup. I've got to get that asters book. You know how I love my asters all stripes. The reclassification stuff drives me bonkers as a writer btw. If I don't get by again before Christmas Michelle, Happy Christmas.~~Dee

Yes Dee, Victoria is far too modest, but I also know what she says is true as the publisher has detailed sales stats! I'm driven bonkers by all that reclassification stuff too, but heartened that it took the botanists and geneticists around 40 years of arguing before coming to an agreement on what the reclassification should be!

Merry Christmas to you and your family Dee, I'm so looking forward to seeing you here in the UK next year :)

Thanks for the suggestions VP. I've borrowed James Wong's book from our local library a couple of times - if I take it out again I will have to get my own copy. I have the Plant Lovers Guides covering snowdrops, epimediums and ferns and they are all most excellent. I think that I could be tempted by asters and hardy geraniums will be a must have!

Your essential reads

Octave Mirbeau was an anarchist writer* and seemingly enthusiastic about all things gardening if this quote from his one of his letters is anything to go by.** He considered his garden in the River Seine valley as an unspoiled utopia, and corresponded with Monet, Caillebotte and Pissarro.

* = described as such at the exhibition.

** = I don't know if there was any reaction to this comment from any woman who knew Mirbeau. Whilst I love gardening and compost, NAH knows better than to compare me to anything I spread on our garden. However, a former boyfriend once said, "I don't care if you looked like a washing machine, I'd still love you". Hmm.

Update: purely by coincidence, Flighty has posted about his compost bin. Like him and the gardeners at West Green House, I must get cracking and spread the good stuff from mine...

I don't usually expect much in the way of gardening bargains in the January sales, but Homebase this year have come up trumps - 60 litres of peat free compost substantially reduced as you can see from the picture. January would normally be one of the worst times to buy compost too - the bags on sale have usually been left outside for months and consequently have had a lot of their nutrients leached out and aren't a good buy. However, the bag I bought a few days ago had been kept inside in the stock area, was for sale inside the shop and was therefore OK. Just as well as I still have a few tulip bulbs left to pot up as I ran out of compost just before Christmas. At other times of the year, you may pick up similar bargains. Stores often have a cheap deal going on 3 bags of compost and I use the empty bags as a weed suppressing cover on my allotment. I have 10 compost bins on the go, so you'd think I'd never have to buy any wouldn't you? But I seem to have a garden and…

It's time to reveal the reality of #mygardenrighgtnow and compare it with the photo at the top of the blog which was taken in the summer. You'll see I've not cut back much of my garden yet - that tiny dot of pink in my trug is the clue my secateurs are poised to start soon.

I used the trug originally to link my garden with my allotment and I've done the same this time around. I have the seeds I'm about to sow this weekend, some caliente mustard for green manure, plus my loppers and soft tie for finishing off my tree care.

There's quite a contrast between the two photos, but they also show I love my garden whatever the season.

Now it's over to you ~ how's your garden right now? The weather is set to be quite wild this weekend, which potentially gives us some dramatic photos to look at. The wind was blowing a hooley before NAH took these photos, but for some reason it calmed down when he took them. I wanted my hair to be all over my face!

A few days ago I was contacted by a TV company to see if I'd like to be filmed advising a 'lovely retired couple' on how to grow vegetables. Yes, of course I would. However as our chat went on, it became clear the enthusiastic researcher - and fan of my trug - thought we could show something similar to the above image... in early March.

On Facebook a little later, I joked that perhaps I should recreate the above photo and reveal the reality of my garden right now. Sara was quite taken with the idea, and so after some thought the #mygardenrightnow project was born.

Join me on the weekend of 4th/5th March and take a picture of yourself in the garden (or on your allotment, or wherever you usually garden) which shows how it looks at some point over those 2 days. Don't worry if you don't have a nice summery picture to recreate like mine or someone to take the picture for you, selfies or a little bit of you (like the picture above) are fine. I'm interested in seeing…

Sometimes life conspires to take you down a different path to the one expected. It was just such a diversion which led to the start of Veg Plotting nine years ago today, when I realised being a distance carer was more important than my job.

I started this blog on the day I wrote my resignation letter and what a sensible move that's been. It's meant I have at least one happy place in my life and it's allowed me to tell the stories which my head demands be told each time I go to the allotment. It turns out this new path has its own unexpected twists and turns, with plenty of new friends and surprises I've welcomed along the way.

To keep Veg Plotting happy means I choose not to talk much about the most personal aspects of my life. Until today that is.

The path turned again recently as I had to make a tough decision about my mum's continuing care. She suffered a stroke in August, and it's clear she'll not recover well enough to return to her home in Birmingham…

Garlic is one of my favourite crops to grow because it's so simple and you can easily save some cloves for next year. We use quite a lot of it every week, which makes garlic a must-have for my plot.

However, last year I was rather puzzled to find my harvest wasn't disappearing quite as quickly as expected. Some time later I found the solution to the mystery in our spice cupboard: a jar of garlic powder stood proudly in prime position on the top shelf.

It turns out NAH prefers using the powdered form because it's less fiddly and so quick to use. To say I was a bit cross when I tackled him about it is putting it mildly as I felt all my hard work up at the allotment was being rejected. Later when I'd calmed down and could put myself in 'my customer's shoes' I resolved to have a go at making my own garlic powder.

We both use the green garlic I grow which uses up the smaller cloves from a cropping garlic bulb. It starts the home grown garlic season much earlier…

Some days are destined to be extra special and the last day of September was one of them. Not only did I get to swan around a secret garden in the heart of London, I - along with twenty or so other garden bloggers - had the good fortune to meet Monty Don and preview his latest book, Down to Earth.

...nestled close to Piccadilly Circus and whisked up to the fourth floor, there's a different world waiting to be explored. It's a beautiful, productive roof garden complete with a bug hotel, bee hives and a green roof on the shed. It was a great space to explore with my blogging buddies and unlike my poor tomatoes, the hotel's were still going strong with not a hint of blight. I also envied the huge aubergines and curly chillies in the display.

There was plentiful space for entertaining, though we were too busy chatting and enjoying the warm afternoon in the garden to move onto the inviting sofas. Then Monty appeared…

When an owner says their garden is 'drier than Jerusalem', the last thing you expect is to arrive in a downpour of biblical proportions. That's what happened when I visited Ulting Wick recently. 'Third time lucky' I thought when I made the arrangements, as I've tried and failed to visit the past 2 years. That thought was almost my downfall. Almost.

The rain was coming down so heavily when I arrived I could hardly see out of the car window and I was deafened by the noise. Bright flashes of lightning made the courtyard stand out in stark relief for a second before fading again into the murk. I was giggling so hard at the irony, I struggled to get into my rain gear. Also which of the buildings I'd glimpsed should I run to for shelter?

Luckily owner Philippa Burough quickly came to my rescue and guided me to the potting shed where she and new head gardener Lou Nicholls had taken shelter from the storm. It was a great opportunity for Lou to take a selfie of us …

I entered a new world at the weekend, courtesy of my friend Sally who invited me to judge the flower classes at Foxham Horse Show. After I said I'd love to, a little bit of jiggery-pokery ensued and I swiftly achieved promotion to fruit, veg AND flower classes.

I was totally unaware this event existed until Sally volunteered as show secretary this year. Not only does it exist, it celebrated its 30th birthday on Saturday. The horse show is the main raison d'etre with around 300 horses attending this year's competitions of all kinds. The produce classes were added a couple of years ago as a fun way of involving more people.

Foxham is a small village around 5 miles north of Chippenham. It's a pleasant drive which follows Maud Heath's Causeway for quite a way and goes through the hamlet of Kellaways. This is the source for the naming of the Kellaways Formation, a particular series of sands and clays from the Jurassic period.* It shows even a tiny dot on the map can ach…

This plant always makes me smile at this time of the year: it's a reminder of a wonderful afternoon at Knoll Gardens in the company of owner Neil Lucas's enthusiasm a few years ago. He had many Persicaria to show us that day, and it was 'Fat Domino' that stole my heart with its large flower heads waving to me from the nursery area.

It's proved to be an easy care perennial since I placed it in the lower terrace bed; it only needs cutting down at the end of winter and then given a topping of mulch to see it through the year. It's rewarded me with over 60 flower heads from one plant, and when I peered below the leaves yesterday, it looks like I have a plant ripe for division into two. This is earmarked for behind the white phlox you can see in the background as there's a hidden gap there which needs to be filled.

I've also cleared a space in front of the phlox, which is thick with alliums in spring, but now needs something added there for later interest. …